Yuzo Koshiro

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Yuzo Koshiro. Biography[edit] Early life (1967–1985)[edit] Yuzo Koshiro was born in Tokyo on December 12, 1967.

His mother, Tomo Koshiro, was a pianist. She taught him how to play the piano at the age of three, and by the age of five, he had a strong command of it. In 1975, he began taking music lessons from the acclaimed film composer Joe Hisaishi (later known for his soundtracks to Hayao Miyazaki films), and studied with him for three years. While he was still in high school during the early 1980s, Koshiro began composing music on the NEC PC-8801 as a hobby, including mockups of early arcade game music from Namco, Konami, and Sega. In a 1992 interview, Koshiro said that his favorite music genres are new wave, dance music, technopop, classical, and hard rock, and that his favorite Western bands are Van Halen and Soul II Soul.[19] Career at Nihon Falcom (1986–1988)[edit] Early freelance work (1988–1990)[edit] Founding of Ancient Corp. (1990–1994)[edit] Later career (1994–present)[edit] Works[edit]

Gaming Intelligence Agency - Features - Interview with Yuzo Koshiro. Yuzo Koshiro is one of the premier videogame music composers of our time.

He learned to play the piano at the age of 3 under the careful guidance of his mother, later studying the violin and cello as well. His first professional project was for Nihon Falcom and would result in the highly renown soundtrack for Ys. Koshiro gained wide recognition for his works in the Shinobi and Streets of Rage series, but it was his groundbreaking compositions for Actraiser that cemented his place in the annals of videogame music. When Sega announced Shenmue, more than a few eyebrows were raised at the ambitious and expensive production. Since the game's release, however, two things remain clear -- the game is recognized for stunning visuals and a truly beautiful soundtrack.

GIA: First, thanks for taking time out of your incredibly busy schedule - Our first question is, how and at what age did you get involved in music? YK: I started to learn playing the piano when I was 3 years old. YK: Actually Mr.
Keeping the Classic Sound Alive: An Interview with Yuzo Koshiro from 1UP. Or kids who grew up owning Nintendo consoles, "Hip Tanaka" was likely the first name they ever put to a video game soundtrack.

But those who grew up on Sega or NEC systems probably had a different muse: Freelance composer Yuzo Koshiro. A talented, versatile, and decidedly friendly musician, Koshiro entered the games industry writing compositions for niche PC RPG developer Nihon Falcom before branching out to console work. Koshiro contributed to two landmark works of game music: Ys Books I and II, whose reworked Turbo CD version turned thousands of young American gamers into instant fans with its blistering rock arrangements, and the Streets of Rage trilogy, which stunningly twisted the Sega Genesis sound chip into a source of the purest, most addictive trance electronic to appear in a video game to that point. For our first appointment in Japan before this year's Tokyo Game Show, we visited the office of Koshiro's development studio Ancient for a long overdue interview.

Yuzo Koshiro. Biography[edit]

OPCFG: THE OPCFG INTERVIEW WITH YUZO KOSHIRO. The OPCFG Interview with Yuzo Koshiro Yuzo in his studio Recently I got in contact with Yuzo Koshiro, the man that composed the music for such classic games as The Revenge Of Shinobi, Actraiser, and the Streets Of Rage series.

More recently he worked on music for the Dreamcast epic Shenmue. He graciously agreed to an interview, which I'm presenting here.
Exclusive Interview Feature: Interview #2: Yuzo Koshiro. Our second interview partner is Yuzo Koshiro.

The 39-year old composer is best known for scoring early Nihon Falcom classics, such as Ys, Ys II and Sorcerian. After leaving Nihon Falcom, Koshiro founded his own company, Ancient, in 1990. Recently, Koshiro has worked on Monolith Soft's Namco X Capcom, Konami's class="game">Castlevani: Potrait of Ruin as well as Atlus' Etrian Odyssey and its sequel. As a company, Ancient is not only offering Koshiro's composing skills to publishers, but also the game development capabilities of its 19 employees. Since 1991 the company has worked on more than 20 mostly action-oriented games for companies like Sega, Enix (now Square Enix) and Sony Computer Entertainment. Q: Mr. Q: Let's hear about the music of Etrian Odyssey 2 and its composition. Q: How does the music of the prequel differ from Etrian Odyssey 2's soundtrack?
Yuzo Koshiro Interview. Page: 1 2 3 If you were to ask a devout game music fan who the most well-known composers are, one of the first answers would most certainly be Yuzo Koshiro.

While his most well-known work is the classic Streets of Rage 2 soundtrack, Yuzo still remains highly active in the composition of game music to this day; his most recent effort being the themes of the mega-crossover Namco X Capcom. His family's game development company, Ancient, also continues to produce and develop new titles. Kikizo recently had the opportunity to talk with Yuzo about his recent work, the technical aspects of game music composition, and the difficulties of being a small developer in a cutthroat market. Kikizo: So, what exactly has Ancient been up to lately?